William a



(ModeL) A. LORENZ, E. G. P'ARKHURST s;- L. K. JOHNSON.

OARRIIBR FOR TYPE DISTRIBUTINGMAGHINES. No. 244,724. Patented July 19.1881.

. \wmms I I a w I Y UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFIC WILLIAM A. LORENZ, OE BROOKLYN, N. Y., EDWARD e. PARKHURST, F HARTFORD, OONN., AND LO Is K. JOHNsON, OF NEw YORK, N. Y.

CARRIER F OR TYPE-DISTRIBUTING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 244,724, dated July 19, 1881.

' Application filed May 28, 1881. (ModeL) To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that we, WILLIAM A. LORENZ, of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, EDWARD G. PARKHURST,

of the city of Hartford and State of Connecticut, and LOUIS K. JOHNSON, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Type-Carriers, of

which the following is a full, true, and exact :0 description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, upon one sheet. 7

Our improvement relates to type-carriers which hold and convey the type until removed from them by some type-selecting mechanism, I 5 and is especially applicable to the type-carriers patented by G. W. Dickinson and W. A. Lorenz, though the same contrivance may beusefully applied to any othertype-carrier in which it is important to prevent the rising of type.

In the practical operation of type-distributin g machines employing the carriers previously described it has proved extremely diflicult to prevent 'the type from rising in the carriers.

This rising is due tothe jar of the machine. The type, being held in the carriers by means of a spring and having no contrivance to hold them positively down, are very apt to rise in such carrier during the successive impulses of the machine. Attempts have before now been made to prevent such rising of the type by means of apparatus bearing against their faces-such as rollers or capsbut these have not operated successfully. They were liable 3 5 to batter and injure the faces of the type; and, as type are not of the same length, and it is necessary thatall should rest with their feet upon the carrier in order to be properly selected by the selecting mechanism, it has resulted that short type and spaces would rise in the carrier and would 'not' be selected by their proper selecting mechanism.

Our improvement has in view the holding down of the type in the carriers by means of mechanism attached to the carrier itself, whereby the type are prevented from rising and are held firmly inthe carriers with their feet resting against the frame of the carrier. This we accomplish by cutting in that edge of the type which rests against the carrier a nick, each type or space being provided with a nick cut at the same distance from the footof the type, and we have attached to the carrier a point entering such nick in the type. I

In the operation of the Dickinson and Lorenz distributer type are delivered into a recess in the carrier, and dropped by gravity until their feet rest against the carrier, before they are seized by the carrier; and it is obvious that they projecting -point referred to would prevent such typefrom dropping freely.

-We have therefore made such point movable,

and withdraw it before the type is placed in the carrier, but subsequently force it forward after the type is dropped and cause it to enter the nick in the edge of the type. By making this point movable We also avoid another difficulty, namely: In case the type should be improperly delivered to the carrier, or should be reversed, it is evident that, being forced in by cut-off ordeliverymechanismof some sort, and coming 'in contact with the' stationary point, which would not under those circumstances enter the nick in the type, there would be danger of injury to the point or to the type. We have therefore so arranged our point, which is formed on the end of a pin, that in case the type is delivered to the carrier in such a position that the nick does not correspond to the point, or a type is delivered not having this nick, then the point can yield and retire into the carrier. In the present construction of the apparatus, however, the point isautomatically forced back before the delivery of the type to the carrier, so that the recess may be free for the dropping of the type by gravity, while the point is subsequently forced forward during the action of the machine.

Our invention will be readily understood from the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a section through the carrier, showing the type in position 3 Fig. 2, a top view of the locking-pin; Fig. 3, a sectional view of the locking-pin held in its forward position by means of another spring-pin, and Fig. 4 the locking-pin held in its back position by means of the same spring-pin,

a represents generally our carrier, which is one adapted to the Dickinson and Lorenz distributer. In the cored-out portion of the carrier a slides the ejector c, which has several ejecting-arms. Between the two upper ejecting-arms is the block d, forming part of the carrier a and furnishing the abutment for the spring which throws back the ejector c. Pivoted in the carrier bymeans of the pin 9 is the clutch f, acted on by the spring s. This clutch holds the type a; firmly in the recess in the end of the carrier, as is clearly shown.

The type 1: shown is provided with anick, t, on its back edge, or edge opposite that on which the selecting-nicks are cut. This nick is made in the back of all types and characters at the same distance from the foot of the type.

Forming part of the frame a is the block 0, having a cylindrical passage through it. Supported in this cylindrical hole, bored through the carrier horizontally and through the block 0, as shown, is the type-locking pin 1). This pin may be either round or square, and the hole should be out correspondingly. It is here shown cylindrical in shape, and in detail in Fig. 2. Its front end is out to a horizontal edge by bevels on thetop and bottom, as shown at 11. Then another bevel, q, is cut on the side of the end of the pin. This bevel, whenin position in the carrier, faces the advancing side of said carrier. Two corresponding bevels, r and 'r, are cut at the back end of said pin.

In the top of the pin are out two horizontal notches, m and a, and the top of the pinis additionallycut away somewhat, to allow the action of a spring locking-pin, hereinafter to be described. In the side of the pin b is out the fiat surface w, which bears against the ejector c, which ejector has a slot out through its side to allow the passage of the pin when the parts of the carrier are put together. The flat surface w, sliding against the flat surface of the channel in the ejector, prevents the revolution of the pin 1).

In a socket in the back of the carrier at is set the spring-pin h, acted on by the coiled spring as and provided with the point 7a, which is adapted to enter the grooves or notches m a in the top of the pin 1). By means of the pin it the pin 1) is locked in its advanced or retired position by means of the tension of the spring no, so that if it be thrown forward by any mechanism the point it, entering the back notch, a, will hold it forward, as shown in Fig. 3, while if it be pressed back the point Is, entering the front notch, m, will hold it in its retired position, as in Fig. 4.; but it will yield to pressure in either direction if said pressure be great enough to compress the spring 00 by means of the inclined planes formed by the sides of the point k.

The operation of the machine can now be understood. The clutch f being raised from the carrier by the mechanism of the distributer, a type, r, is delivered into the recess in the end of the carrier. The pin being in its retired position, gravity then causes the type to drop and rest with its foot upon the carrier at j. This type could not drop freely into its position were it not that the pin b is out of the way. After the carrier has begun to move the back bevel, r, of the pin 1) is brought in contact with a surface or point, by means of which the pin 1) is forced forward so that its front edge, 1), enters the nick t in the type. After the carrier has passed the surface or point just referred to in its travel down the carrier-channel it is plain in case the pin 11 is back in the carrier it cannot be forced back past such point or surface if such point or surface present a flat unbeveled surface to the back end of the pin I) opposite the bevel r, so that if during the operation of the machine it should become necessary to force the carriers back past this surface or point, unless some means of avoiding the difficulty were provided, the back end of the pin 11 opposite the bevel 1' would come in contact with such surface, lock the carriers in their channels, and prevent their backward movement. We have therefore provided the bevel r, on the opposite side of the pin 1), corresponding to the bevel r. This bevel, coming in contact with the pin b, forces such pin forward and allows the carriers to be slid back by hand in their channel past the surface or point referred to.

I The general construction of the machine prevents the type a from falling forward out of the carrier. It will therefore be readily seen that this type cannot rise in the carrier without forcing back the point p, and the machine is so constructed that no tendency of the type v to rise is sufficient to force back this point. The pin 1) is kept in its advanced position until the carrier has completed its circuit and has returned to the type -delivering mechanism. Before it reaches the point where the type is to be delivered to it the carrier, in its advancing movement, passes by a surface or point which acts on the front side bevel, q, of the pin 11, and forces this pin back so that the spring locking-pin his in the position shown in Fig. 4, in which it enters the notch n of the pin b. By this means the recess in the carrier is free of the pin 1) at the moment the type is delivered to it.

It is obvious that the pin 11 might be thrown forward directly by a spring, or that it might bearranged to bear against the carrier with sufficient friction to prevent its accidental movement. The disadvantage of throwing it forward with a spring would be that the recess in the carrier would not be clear for the recep' tion of the type r, and the foot of any type not provided with the special nick delivered against this spring-point would travel out and in with each beat of the machine, the advancingfeelers driving it into the carrier, and the spring-point, on the withdrawal of the feelers, again pushing it forward. If simple friction were used to retain it in place it is probable that such friction would become uncertain in its action after the machine had been in operation for some time.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a type having a nick and a point attached to a carrier, and adapted to enter said nick or recess, for the purpose of preventing the risingof the type, substantially as described.

2. A type-carrier provided with a type-holdmg spring, and with mechanism, substantially as described, for preventingthe rising of the type.

3. A type-carrier provided with a locking-pin entering a recess in the type, for the purpose of preventing the rising of the type, substantially as described.

4. A type-carrier provided with a yielding locking-pin adapted to enter a nick in the type, for the purpose of preventing the rising of the type, substantially as described.

5. Atype-carrier provided with 'a pin adapted to enter a nick in the type, for the purpose of preventing the rising of the type, in combination with mechanism, substantially as described,whereby it is held eitherin its advanced or its retired position, but yields to pressure in either direction.

6. A type-carrier provided with a type-lockin g pin provided with means, substantially as described, for the purpose of preventing its revolution, substantially as described.

7. A type-carrier having atype-locking pin provided with two beveled ends, by means of and the locking-pin h, actuated by a spring, a,

substantially as described.

' WILLIAM A. LORENZ.

E. G. PARKHURST. LOUIS K. JOHNSON. Witnesses as to signatures of W. A. Lorenz and E. G. Parkhurst:

SAML. J. KIRK, W. H. BINNS.

Witnesses as to signature of Louis K. John- OHAs. M. GREEN, ALFRED J oNEs. 

